[Cherie]

Originally Posted by arista

[Carefree: Melissa Reid
and Michaella McCollum Connolly happily pose
on a balcony in Peru where they are accused
of smuggling cocaine]

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2cOXInkud






This week they are expected to
face the courts

I thought they said they were kidnapped taken to Morocco and then on to Peru. Story unravelling.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Cherie

I thought they said they were kidnapped taken to Morocco and then on to Peru. Story unravelling.

They are not clear on their story
Lawyers may take over the wording

[Nedusa]

I think after a few weeks in a Peruvian Jail they may start to change their plea and tell the truth as to why they tried to smuggle drugs into Europe. I think the reality of their situation may now be starting to hit home and they must surely realise they have NO chance of getting away with this crime. They should accept their guilt, plead guilty with mitigation and hope for the best. They might only get 5 years or less

[Z]

Just silly young girls taking the 'party' one step too far. Hope they learn a serious lesson from this.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Zee

Just silly young girls taking the 'party' one step too far. Hope they learn a serious lesson from this.

Yes life changed forever



Greed Destroyed their Future

[Z]

I'm gonna ask my friend's sister (same age as the one from Scotland from the same village) what she thinks about it all when I see her next month

[arista]

[Fragile: Looking harassed and terrified, Melissa Reid and
Michaella McCollum Connolly, both 20, are led away from the state
prosecutor's office for their case to be heard
at the palace of justice in Callao, north Lima, Peru]

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2caJZeBL1


They were charged.

[Verbal]

The pair of them have had it. Pleading guilty, even if by some miracle they aren't, is the best thing they can do.

[thesheriff443]

they are guilty, I have no sympathy for them.

[DanaC]

They really should plead guilty. And I do have sympathy for them. Not saying I think they should get away with it. They broke the laws of a country that will lock them up for a long time for being a mule, even for a first offence.

But I do have sympathy for them. And for their families.

[Livia]

I don't really have any sympathy for them. Had they got away with it they'd be off now living the highlife on the proceeds of their crime and the drugs they smuggled would have been sold on for a profit by criminals... that's not even considering the people who take the drugs.

If they're such silly and naive young girls what were they doing out in the world on their own? I don't know many people who don't understand the what it would mean to be caught with drugs anywhere.

And on a really trivial side note, that is the worst hairstyle on the dark haired girl that I've seen for a long time.

[DanaC]

Well at 19 people often are out in the world regardless* of how grownup they may actually be

I don't think theyre naive exactly. Just young and still filled with that sense of invicibility that lots of youngsters have.

I've said before on here that the brain is still forming until into the 20s. The last part of the brain to devlop is the part that allows true comprehension of the impact of one's actions.

Not saying theyre not guilty or should get some kind of free pass because of it. But i can imagine at their age floating along on a wave of excitement without ever really considering the consequences of my actions. So, I have sympathy for the trouble they have created for themelves.

I also have sympathy for their parents. They must be besides themselve with worry and fear. The whole family.

When I said earlier I could imagine my nieces in their place, btw, I should stress I'd be very surprised if either of them ever did anything this stupid. They're pretty together girls. But sometimes life throws a curveball and I can't help imagining what this would do to my brother if it was his girl over there. And i can't help looking at those girls and seeing them as kids, just as i see my nieces as kids. Barely into adulthood, still so young in so many ways.

*I was sooo tempted to say irregardless just then

[arista]

Originally Posted by Livia

I don't really have any sympathy for them. Had they got away with it they'd be off now living the highlife on the proceeds of their crime and the drugs they smuggled would have been sold on for a profit by criminals... that's not even considering the people who take the drugs.

If they're such silly and naive young girls what were they doing out in the world on their own? I don't know many people who don't understand the what it would mean to be caught with drugs anywhere.

And on a really trivial side note, that is the worst hairstyle on the dark haired girl that I've seen for a long time.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by DanaC

*I was sooo tempted to say irregardless just then

LOL...Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to use 'irregardless' in a sentence at least three times this week.

I get what you mean, especially about your nieces. I have three nieces aged 5, 8 and 10 and I adore them. It must be awful for the families of these girls and I do feel a sense of sympathy for the families, but 19 is past the age of majority, it's older than the youngest soldier fighting in Afghanistan, and it wasn't a bit of puff for personal use they were attempting to bring in, it was cocaine. I hope this story is shown a lot and I hope it makes an impression on anyone thinking about doing the same.

Something that's struck me for a while is, it seems that years ago when my parents were young, at 19 you were expected to be mature, to hold down a job, to step up to the plate. Now, young people have all kinds of information at their fingertips, they're sexualised at an early age, they're showered with material possessions, they're given much more freedom than previous generations, and yet we assume they're not "fully cooked" to use a Judge Judy phrase. It's an enigma to me, especially as so many of the young people I know are far more aware and mature than a lot of the older generation. But I suppose this is a totally different discussion.

I've often thought I would do if put in that situation, and my approach would be:

If they have my family hostage, then I'd go through with the smuggling and have to take my chances. Most people must get through, otherwise they wouldn't be risking so much drug confiscation.

If they didn't have my family, then I'd find out where the British embassy is, go there straight away and tell them everything - they'd keep you safe and get you home.

If they dropped me off at the airport, then I'd find a british pilot, and ask him wtf to do. He'll probably take you off the airport floor and arrange for someone from the embassy to come and collect you.

[Nedusa]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Well at 19 people often are out in the world regardless* of how grownup they may actually be

I don't think theyre naive exactly. Just young and still filled with that sense of invicibility that lots of youngsters have.

I've said before on here that the brain is still forming until into the 20s. The last part of the brain to devlop is the part that allows true comprehension of the impact of one's actions.

Not saying theyre not guilty or should get some kind of free pass because of it. But i can imagine at their age floating along on a wave of excitement without ever really considering the consequences of my actions. So, I have sympathy for the trouble they have created for themelves.

I also have sympathy for their parents. They must be besides themselve with worry and fear. The whole family.

When I said earlier I could imagine my nieces in their place, btw, I should stress I'd be very surprised if either of them ever did anything this stupid. They're pretty together girls. But sometimes life throws a curveball and I can't help imagining what this would do to my brother if it was his girl over there. And i can't help looking at those girls and seeing them as kids, just as i see my nieces as kids. Barely into adulthood, still so young in so many ways.

*I was sooo tempted to say irregardless just then

I agree with the sentiment contained in your post, I remember the stupid things I got up to in my youth and looking back now I was lucky to escape without serious consequences. When we are young we don't tend to debate or worry about the consequences of actions happy just to carry on without too much thought.

These young women have for whatever reason (money,drugs, romantic promises, glitzy lifestyle etc...) have decided to commit a serious criminal offence and now their lives are changed forever... whether they plead guilty or not guilty it matters not they will be rotting in a Peruvian prison for a long long time to come. They will eventually be released but their young lives are over. The horrific experience they will now have to endure for perhaps up to 10 years or more will scar them forever.

I do feel some sympathy for them BUT they chose to go down this path. It was suggested that first time drug smugglers should receive much much lighter sentences but to be honest that would not act as a deterrent in fact it could even have the opposite effect by encouraging Drug gangs to convince even more young women like these two to take a similar risk.

No I'm afraid they are now just another couple of lost souls paying a very heavy price for a stupid and reckless action. A month or year from now this story will be forgotten but they will both still be chained up in a small dirty cell in dark faceless prison....!!!!

[Verbal]

In the Daily Mail comments section of this story:

This is going to sound awful, but... Does anyone know where the dark haired ones jacket is from?

Then further up

If anyone is interested... Thanks to some helpful answers, I've now ordered the jacket off the Zara website (TRF) collection yay - Lady, London, 20/08/2013 19:46............................................, ..................,,Nice bit of advertising for Zara! Funny isn't it how one woman's pain can be another's gain! Strange world we live in.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...se-starts.html

I have no words

[Livia]

Originally Posted by CynicalHermit

In the Daily Mail comments section of this story:

Then further up

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...se-starts.html

I have no words

"Shallow" seems too insignificant a word...

[Z]

So blatantly guilty. I feel sorry for them because it's very clear that they didn't think about the actual consequences of what they were doing, they just got caught up in the wild party atmosphere of Ibiza and got offered a 5 figure sum and a free holiday to go smuggle some drugs to keep the party going... they didn't even think about the reality of smuggling Ł1.5 million's worth of cocaine into Europe and all the lives they would touch and possibly ruin as a result. The sad thing is that despite the fact they were caught, this won't deter young people from doing this all the time. They say that for every time someone gets caught, a dozen people get away with it. They probably knew that the odds were on their side; they have that sense of invincibility that comes with feeling cool, confident and happy with yourself and your life... that's why they didn't seem too bothered to begin with when they were first arrested... now you can see the fear on their faces, now that it's "oh ****, 15 years?!"

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Well at 19 people often are out in the world regardless* of how grownup they may actually be

I don't think theyre naive exactly. Just young and still filled with that sense of invicibility that lots of youngsters have.

I've said before on here that the brain is still forming until into the 20s. The last part of the brain to devlop is the part that allows true comprehension of the impact of one's actions.

Not saying theyre not guilty or should get some kind of free pass because of it. But i can imagine at their age floating along on a wave of excitement without ever really considering the consequences of my actions. So, I have sympathy for the trouble they have created for themelves.

I also have sympathy for their parents. They must be besides themselve with worry and fear. The whole family.

When I said earlier I could imagine my nieces in their place, btw, I should stress I'd be very surprised if either of them ever did anything this stupid. They're pretty together girls. But sometimes life throws a curveball and I can't help imagining what this would do to my brother if it was his girl over there. And i can't help looking at those girls and seeing them as kids, just as i see my nieces as kids. Barely into adulthood, still so young in so many ways.

*I was sooo tempted to say irregardless just then

How could anyone know that for certain?

[arista]

One of them has agreed to plead Guilty
to get a sentence close to 7 or 8 years.

Thats the best thing to do.

Ref: SkyNewsHD


As for their parents saying they are angels
I am sorry you do not know your own demon daughters

[Ammi]

..I saw that this morning..I thought it said that the sentence would be reduced to 3 years...

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by arista

One of them has agreed to plead Guilty
to get a sentence close to 7 or 8 years.

Thats the best thing to do.

Ref: SkyNewsHD


As for their parents saying they are angels
I am sorry you do not know your own demon daughters

Demon daughters? Thats a bit OTT. They're naive, stupid and opportunistic and will pay for that for most of their 20s. But they're far from evil.

[arista]

Originally Posted by CynicalHermit

Demon daughters? Thats a bit OTT. They're naive, stupid and opportunistic and will pay for that for most of their 20s. But they're far from evil.

No Drugs like that are done by Killing people at times



They knew the Full risks
and the drug owners knew as well.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..I saw that this morning..I thought it said that the sentence would be reduced to 3 years...

No 7 years
which is most fair